Finland – Finns are against their country joining of NATO and the President of Finland Sauli Niinistö said to be opposed to the adhesion.
Finland and Sweden have been considering joining the intergovernmental military alliance, though the nation has historically been militarily neutral. “We do not need to change the current policy,” said M. Niinistö to the public broadcaster YLE. The Finnish President said that a referendum should be organized to decide such matter, as security and national interests concern the nation. He added that Finland and Sweden should definitely decide separately on this topic.
According to YLE, 55% of Finns are opposed to the country joining NATO, and only 22% support it. The Finnish government commissioned experts to write a report on the possible joining of the North Atlantic Alliance, which had been released on last Friday. “Membership would probably also lead to a serious crisis with Russia, for an undefined period of time,” warns the report.
The Ukrainian crisis and Russia’s strategical interest for the Arctic made Finland consider the possibility of joining NATO. “This is a question of grand strategy,” Finnish Prime Minister Sipilä told reporters on Friday, adding, “Small nations do not often change their basic foreign policy guidelines.” Niinistö also said that “they (Russia)do not want a threat spreading to their border”.
